Jacob's Ladder(Hiatus)
by AlcatrazisGod
Summary: [AU] In 1986 an accident at the Chernobyl power plant caused an overnight evacuation of the town Pripyat. Vincent Law, an unfortunate citizen of the doomed town is left behind. However, this does not mean he is entirely alone.[Temporary Hiatus]
1. Worst of Luck

_Note: This is going to be a short 10 chapter AU story that I have been wanting to write for awhile now. Please leave your thoughts, and tell me what you think of it. Also, anyone who likes this story should go and check out my other Ergo Proxy story, New Berlin._

* * *

**Worst of Luck**

Vincent woke up to the sound of his rather obnoxious alarm clock. "Ack," he groaned as he reached over and flipped it off. "Why does that thing have to go off everyday."

Vincent examined the date on the clock which read, '_4/28/1986_.' He sat up and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Ugh," he began sickly, "I don't feel very well at all today."

"Come to think of it," Vincent stated in a pondering manner. "I've been hearing that a lot of people in this town are getting sick. I wonder what that's about..."

Vincent then stood up and walked over to a nearby table where a TV remote lied. He picked it up and flipped the television on.

Instead of the usual daily news, Vincent was immediately confronted with classical music being played over a blank screen.

He let out a long sigh and dropped his head as he knew what this meant, "I wonder what's happening now."

After a few moments a female voice rang out on the screen:

"_Attention, attention... Attention, attention... Attention, attention! Dear comrades, the city counsel of people's deputies informs that due to an accident at Chernobyl nuclear power plant; in the city of Pripyat, an adverse radiation conditions evolve. Party and Soviet bodies, military units are taking necessary measures._

_However, in order to provide a complete safety for the people, especially for children, it is necessary to temporarily evacuate city residents to evacuation points in Kiev Oblast._

_In order to do this, to each apartment house today, April 27, starting at 2:00 pm... Starting at 2:00 pm... buses will be provided, escorted by Militsiya and members of the city's Ispolkom._

_It is recommended to take with you: Ids, basic necessities and foodstuff for the first time. Heads of enterprises and public offices have designated vital personnel who will stay to ensure normal functioning of the city._

_All apartment houses during the evacuation will be guarded by Militsiya. Comrades, while temporarily leaving your house please, do not forget to close windows and turn off all electrical and gas equipment, to close taps._

_Please remain calm, be organized and maintain order during temporary evacuation."_

Vincent froze and abruptly turned the television off.

He turned slowly and examined the alarm clock which read, '_1:51pm_.' "I was asleep for a long time," Vincent thought to himself.

He then gasped in a panic as he realized he would probably be left behind by the evacuation service if he did not leave soon.

"Uh," Vincent stated in a panic as he ran over to the gas heater but sighed as he realized it was already off. He then darted for the kitchen and unplugged everything in sight. He returned to the living room and quickly unplugged the television.

"I hope this doesn't last very long," Vincent informed himself with a hopeless expression. He then walked over to the front door and opened it up.

As soon as he did, Vincent was shocked to find the hallways desolate. Nobody was around, not even the military police that was promised on the radio.

"Oh no," Vincent said in a quiet panic as he slowly began walking down the hallway which was littered with papers and lost items. "Please tell me I'm not going to be stranded here."

Vincent continued down the hallway. He eventually made it to a glass doorway and opened it up, revealing a downward stairwell.

He came to another door which was nearly broken off of the frame. He pushed it open slightly which caused an unsettling creak, and Vincent stepped out to the new floor of the apartment complex.

Vincent took a look around, while he did this the apartment door closest to his right side remained open. When Vincent scanned the left side of the room however, the door abruptly shut with a rather loud slam which caused Vincent to jump.

"Hey," he called out, hoping somebody was on the other side of that wall. He practically threw the door open but swiftly realized that nobody was home.

"Hello," Vincent asked in slight disappointment. He searched the small apartment thoroughly, but nobody was home.

The lone soul walked out but as he did he noticed a digital clock sitting on a nearby table from out of the corner of his eye.

"What," Vincent asked, "That clock says its 3 in the afternoon. Maybe I should find another clock to compare."

Vincent stepped out of the ominous apartment and walked over to the door across from it. He turned the doorknob only to find it locked.

"Aw," Vincent began and walked to the neighboring door which luckily flew open when he pushed it.

Vincent stepped inside and walked over to an open window where a clock was sitting in the window seal.

He failed to notice several marbles lying scattered on the floorboard. When Vincent came close enough he slipped on one of them and tumbled clear out of the open window. He let out a shout as he slammed into the earth.

Vincent woke up some hours later. He got to his hands and knees and immediately noticed a pair of boots standing before him.

Vincent looked up to see a man with a rifle in hand. He had brown pants, a forest green jacket and wore a gas mask with a swastika crudely spray painted over the left eyeglass.

"Well, hello there," the man began and extended a helpful hand. His voice was slightly filtered due to the gas mask.

"My name is Vladimir," the stranger continued as Vincent took his hand, "Vladimir Malikov."

"Hi," Vincent replied in a confused manner and stood up, "I'm Vincent Law."


	2. Pino

**Pino**

"Are you alright," asked Vladimir while Vincent dusted himself off. "Yeah, I'm fine," Vincent replied quietly and rubbed his head.

"Are you sure," Vladimir questioned further with a tilt of his head. "You fell two stories, my man." "No really," Vincent declared, "I'm alright." "Whatever you say," Vladimir replied and shrugged his shoulders.

Vincent then took a look around and realized the streets were just as desolate as his apartment complex. "Where is everyone," he finally asked, "Did they leave?"

"Yeah," Vladimir chuckled, "I was apart of the Militsiya. Until those commie bastards left me out here. We evacuated the civilians a few days ago."

Vincent let out shocked gasp, "You mean to say that this all happened days ago!?" "Uh yeah, where the hell have you been," asked Vlad.

"I just woke up," Vincent said in confusion as he began to recall everything that happened. "My alarm clock even said it was the 28th." "Don't know what to tell ya," Vlad admitted, "But it sounds to me like that radiation must have got a hold of you and kept you asleep for a few days without realizing it. Damn, we need to get you some food and fast."

"Oh, actually I'm not hungry," Vincent informed with a dismissive wave. "I think I might have woken up at some point and eaten something."

Vlad thought on the possibility of this for a moment before nodding with approval. "Alright, that's good to hear," he stated. "Tell you what though, it's getting late and I need a few things to get dinner started..."

"Dinner," asked Vincent, "But what about the radiation?" "Vince," Vlad said with a solemn shake of his head. "The air we breathe is about 95% pure radiation. I don't think a diet shift will keep us alive."

"Then we have to get out of here," Vincent exclaimed as much as his mellow personality would allow. Vlad simply shook his head at this, "Sorry man. But there's no point. We've already breathed in so much of the stuff we'll probably kill over sometime this week as it is."

Vincent looked to the desolate and lifeless earth in defeat. "So," he began, "We just have to sit here and die?" "It really looks that way," Vlad admitted.

"But anyway," Vlad continued, "I was making dinner and it should be finished any minute. I'll go ahead and make something for you too." Vlad then tossed Vincent a flash light, and he was able to catch it on impulse.

"Okay," Vincent muttered, "Thank you. I think I'm going to take a walk though. Just to see if anyone else is still here."

"Go ahead, but hurry back," Vlad said in a darker tone. "This place gets creepy at night."

Vince nodded and walked off. Vlad turned away and looked up to a Soviet flag the flew high over the desolate city. He sighed and started in its direction.

* * *

Around fifteen minutes later, and a woman with black hair, blue eyes, blue eyeshadow, and all black clothes was sitting in a parked car.

She wore a gas mask over her face but regardless, she was already feeling nauseous. "Ugh," she said to herself, "I have to get out of here soon. I just want to take a look around."

She stepped out of her car and walked on ahead down the lonely streets. The woman remained oblivious to the fact that Vladimir was watching her from the shadows. He knew she was a government official due to the emblem on the right side of her car.

"Hmm," he stated quietly as she disappeared from his sight. "Maybe I should _greet_ her."

* * *

Vincent made his way to a shopping mall. It was already rather dark out, so much so that when Vincent stepped inside the building, he could not see anything that was more than a foot away.

He then remembered the flashlight Vlad had given him.

He took it out of his pocket and turned it on. The light soon shined bright inside the quiet, and very lifeless building.

Vincent walked forward, nearly tripping over a box on his way, and entered the main room of the building.

He shined the light around and caught a glimpse of a shadow moving around in the corner of his eye. Vincent turned to the right, allowing the flashlight to illuminate the area.

"_Hello_," Vincent called out, and while no answer came he could hear audible footsteps ahead.

He sighed and cautiously followed the sound of the disturbance. Eventually, Vincent came to a narrow hallway. He slowly walked down it and quickly came to a closed door. Strangely enough, Vincent could clearly hear the sound of a piano being played from inside.

There was no other place he could go except backwards so Vincent pushed the door open. "Is someone there," he asked as he poked his head inside yet nobody was around.

"What the," Vincent said with a scratch of his head in confusion. He could see a piano on the opposite side of the room but nobody was nearby to be playing it. "Did I just imagine the music," he inquired further.

Vincent turned around to leave the room but as soon as he did he jumped after seeing a little girl standing just a few feet ahead of him.

She had odd purple hair, gray eyes, and what stood out most from her strange appearance was the fact that she was wearing a pink, rabbit costume.

"Hi there," she said cheerfully which allowed for Vincent to lower his guard. "Uh, who are you," he questioned. "My name's Pino," she replied with a widening smile.

"Pino," Vincent asked and the girl nodded reassuringly. "My name is Vincent," he informed. "Vince huh," she asked curiously.

"Did you get lost or something," asked Vincent, "Is that why you're still here?" "No," Pino replied with a shake of her head. "I came in here after everybody else left. I'm was to find my dad, but after awhile I gave up and came here."

"I see," Vincent stated and looked to the ground, knowing her relatives were probably either dead, or had somehow gotten separated from Pino and were long gone from the radiated city.

"So, why are you still here," Pino inquired. "I'm here by mistake," said Vincent. "Then can I come with you," asked Pino. "Uh... sure, I don't see why not," Vincent replied hesitantly.

* * *

Meanwhile, the woman in black was exploring an apartment complex when she had finally decided she had seen enough and walked out the front door.

Once as she did however, she felt a sharp pain on the back of her head and fell to the ground. After a few moments she looked up to see her pistol had slid out in front of her, and a pair of boots were standing only a few feet ahead.

As the woman reached for her weapon Vladimir simply kicked it away. The woman then looked up to face him.

"_Greetings, comrade_," Vlad stated before hitting her again with the stock of his rifle, knocking her out cold.


	3. An Unfriendly Comrade

**An Unfriendly Comrade**

Vincent returned to Vlad's campsite with Pino skipping around him. Vlad was sitting on a bench and looked up to them curiously. Dusk had already befallen the abandoned city.

"Who's the little one," he asked. "Her name is," Vincent began but was cut off. "My name is Pino," the girl informed.

"_Okay_," Vlad said slowly and returned his attention examining the pistol he had taken from the woman he had knocked out earlier.

Vincent looked around for a moment with a hopeless expression. "Now, what do we do," he asked with a long sigh.

"You can start by eating something," Vlad replied and pointed to the building behind himself. "I put your food in there. If you don't eat, you'll make your death a much more painful one."

"I suppose you're right," Vincent replied before walking over to the building's entrance.

* * *

Meanwhile, the woman from Moscow. Her name being Re-L Mayer; finally awoke with a minor headache. She moved around to find herself in a sitting position, tied to a streetlight.

She struggled for a bit and noticed that the ropes were poorly tied together, and she would eventually break free. Since nobody was around, Re-L got the feeling that the purpose of her being tied up was to starve her to death.

Re-L stopped her movements for a second and examined her surroundings. "Ugh," she began in disgust. "This place is beyond creepy."

With that said, Re-L returned to her squirming and eventually the ropes came loose. She pushed them off of herself and immediately jumped up.

"I'm gonna kill that freak," she growled. The loud sound of a metal trash can tumbling over, then rang out from behind.

She quickly whipped around and placed her right and to her waste, but gasped to feel her pistol was not in it's holster.

"Dammit," she groaned, "That idiot took my pistol too?" Re-L rolled her eyes and looked around once more, just to make sure nothing out of the ordinary was lurking somewhere.

Re-L let out a long sigh once she realized nothing was around. She then decided to head over to the back entrance of a nearby building.

She stopped just before she opened the door. "I guess there's no reason to keep this thing on," Re-L informed herself as she took her gas mask off.

Re-L threw it on the ground and opened the door before stepping inside the complex. She walked around carefully, so she would not to trip over anything in this very dark room.

Eventually, Re-L came to an open hallway and heard talking to her left. She turned in that direction and quickly noticed the lights were on behind the last door down that hall.

She approached the door cautiously and slowly pushed it open. Re-L then saw a young man sitting at a table in this large cafeteria. A little girl with purple hair, running in circles around him.

The little girl then noticed Re-L and abruptly ran behind the man's chair. "_Vince_," she stated nervously and pointed to Re-L.

Vincent looked up and slightly jumped at the sight of another person, other than Vlad, standing in the room.

"Um... _Hello_," Vincent stated nervously.


End file.
